The only reason this might not count as a broken base is almost no one was happy about this. Age of Sigmar relied entirely on the players to create balanced games themselves, which is both easy to abuse, and very hard to do, even if both people are genuinely trying. For the first months of the game before one of the biggest divides came from the lack of any game mechanic enforcing any kind of balance between players' forces, combined with a number of easily exploitable unit combinations.The General's Handbook later made the effects coming from these rules automatic, without any embarrassing antics at the gaming table.

Some players saw it as a harmless bit of fun, others took it as a deliberate slap in the face to players who wanted to save money by using existing mini collections.

The initial rules for legacy units from the old Warhammer included a number of deliberately silly real-life requirements, like lifting a goblet and yelling 'For the Lady' for a re-roll or needing to have a bigger mustache than your opponent.

Of course there are still plenty of detractors who prefer the old game or setting and bringing up Age of Sigmar at all is still a pretty reliable way of getting an argument started among Warhammer fans. In years that followed many common complaints got dealt with, people who didn't like the new setting got tired of complaining and moved on, and in particular, when the second edition came out. General opinions on the game improved significantly as new factions were supported and the lore and focus expanded beyond just Chaos and the Stormcast. It didn't help that the first edition in particular made a bunch of very unpopular changes that even most people who now enjoy Age of Sigmar will acknowledge as being poor choices. The fact that the old setting was going on 30 years old when Games Workshop decided to Soft Reboot the franchise led to many fans feeling frustration at something they liked being unceremoniously replaced.

The very existence of Age of Sigmar upsets a lot of Warhammer fans and just about every change has stirred up flame wars the likes of which Sigmar has never seen, from the new lore to army composition.As of its release, it has lived up this promise, along with giving a detailed history of some realms such as Ghyran and Shyish. In the leadup to the release of the second edition, writers promised it would include more maps of the realms, as has been much requested.

Age of sigmar army builder